Cooling bed



Mai. 13, 1923. 1,448,395.

v A. L. FOELL.

COOLING BED.

FILED Npv. e, 1920. 2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

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COOLING BED.

men NOV-6,1920.

Mar. 13,1923.

2 SHEET SSHEET 2.

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Patented Mar. 13, 1923.

praise stares earner earners.

ADOLPI-I L. FOELL, or BUFFALO, YORK, ASSIGNOR r BONNER STEEL COMPANY,

me, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

COOLING BED.

Application filed November 6, 1920. Serial No. 422,227.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AooLPH L. Forum, a citizen of the. United States, and a resident of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cooling Beds, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to cooling beds.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide means for handling the hot metal bars as they are delivered to the cooling bed so as to give them an initial straightening movement, means to further straighten and hold them straight as the bars cool, and means to insure a uniform coolin of all sides of the hot metal stock while it passes across the cooling bed. And particularly this invention is concerned with giving the hot bars a sliding or rolling movement as they are delivered to the cooling bed producing an initial impact of the hot bars against an aligned row of stops, for the purpose of straightening the bars by means of their own inertia at a time when, they are plastic enough to be affected by such a movement. Referring to the drawings Fig. l is a cross section through a cooling bed embodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the cooling bed showing diagrammatically the path of movement of certain members thereof: and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view, similar to that'of Fig. 9', showing diagrammatically the movement of hot bars on the cooling bed, and the path of travel 35 of the movable members thereof;

Heretofore cooling beds have been provided for handling hot bars as they come from a rolling mill, comprising a set of stationary parallel spaced apart supporting members with an intermediate set of movable lifting and carrying members. the latter members being mounted upon frames which are given a circular or elliptical movement. The movable members were so situated that I substantially one-half of their cycle of movement was above the top of the fixed members. Consequently, in each cycle the movable members rose to the level of the fixed members, picked up hot bars supported thereon, carried them upward, forward and down: ward, through a curved path of travel, and redeposited them-upon the fixed supporting members at adistance beyond the point of pick up, This distance has varied in exist mg mechanisms from an inch to a foot or more.

Beds of this step-by-step conveyor type have also been built in which the supporting members were in the form of'racks, that is, having their upper surfaces cut into notches, forming serrations. And these serrations on the-fixed racks have been arranged in rows from end to end of the cooling bed so that the notches in adjacent racks were in alignment, that is, having their sides in the same plane-s, forming. in effect troughs, such troughs being separated byaligned rows of serrations. have been in certain cases notched, the notches in adjoiningracks being aligned in rows running from end to end of the series of lifting'members. i

The present invention in its preferred form comprises a cooling bed with fined members having aligned rows of specially formed notches, and lifting members having also aligned rows of specially formed notches, the notches in the lifting members being of a different form from those of the supporting members, and especially positioned to attain certain definite objects. Although the term notches is here used, it will be apparent from the description below that the notches of this machine are incidental, and that the upper surfaces of both thelifting and supporting IG-HlbEl'S. are in effect divided into series of inclined portions with bounding stops at the bottoms, of the incline. The stop portions extend up to thetops of the next following inclines and so on.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the present invention, Fig. 1 shows diagram} matically the main elements of a mechanism embodying this invention. It comprises the foundation members 1 and 2. Upon the latter member is supported a central runout, comprising driven rollers 3 andv 4:, having concave surfaces, as illustrated. These rollers are carried by a shaft 5, mounted in a bearing rmemberb which is supported by suitable frame members extending to the foundation. It will be understood that a se ries of the rollers 3 eiitends from'the end of the guide trough leading fromthe last pair .of rolls of the mill, throughout the length of the cooling bed. A hot bar from the last pass of therolls' is'delivered .upon the first of; the series of 'concaverollers 3,.and by these Likewise the lifting members rollers is drawn positively down the run-out along the middle portion of the cooling bed. The rollers are spaced apart a suitable distance and may have idle rollers bet-ween them, as is well known in cooling bed construction. In practice the parts hereinafter described are duplicated on the right of the series of run-out rollers 4, similar to rollers 8.

trated. These notches and serrations as illustrated are all similar. and all of the members 10 are similar, the serrations 11 and the sides of notches 12 in adjoining members 10 being aligned horizontally from end to end of the cooling bed in rows parallel to the path of runout members 3. with the corresponding sides of the notches of each row lying in the same planes. At their outer ends the members are formed into plane portions 10 and 10, at slightly lower levels than the bottoms of the notches 12. A limiting guard member 13 is positioned at the outer end of the members 10, to prevent any metal bars from escaping from the side of the cooling bed.

Positioned between the fixed supporting racks 10 are a series of movable lifting and carrying racks 20 which likewise have their upper surfaces formed into serrations 21 and intervening notches 22.

These movable racks are preferably provided at intervals of about one lifting rack after each fourth fixed rack, although this spacing may be varied to make every other rack a movable one, or to place them further apart according to the needs of any p articular mill.

All the movable racks 20 are rigidly supported on I beams 23 and cross members 2A, which are mounted upona series of movable beams 25. These are suspended by pivotal connections 26 at their outer ends to link members 27, which are carried by pivotal. connections to the fixed frame members 29.

The movable racks 20 are all horizontally aligned and the serrations 21 and notches 22 are horizontally aligned from end to end of the cooling bed, forming rows of troughs throughout the length of the carrying portion of the cooling bed. The inner ends of the beams 25 are free, the frame formed by I-beams 23 and 24 being supported there are at a ntrastat position he I-beams 25 are supported on a shaft 35 through eccentrics 36 keyed upon the shaft, the Lbeams being carried upon these eccent-rics bymeans of circular bearing loops 37. The shaft carries a counter-weight 38 adapted to counterbalance the lifting movement of the eccentrics 36 in the bearing 37, as will be obvious.

A suitable motor and control is provided for driving the shaft 35 intermittently.

This has the effect of causing that portion of beam 25 which is directly above the center of shaft 35 to move in a circular direc tion, but since the outer end of the beam 25 is supported by a swinging link 27, the effective travel of the inner end of the beam 25 is elliptical. Consequently the lifting and carrying members 20, supported upon the inner end of beam 25, have a forwardly tilted, elliptical movement, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3., This elliptical movement not entirely uniform along the racks 20 since toward their outer ends the ellipse becomes more'tilted and more flattened out, as illustrated. But effectively it is an ellipse such as that indicated in Fig. 3.

The lifting racks 20 are so positioned with respect to the fixed supporting racks 10 that the cycle of movement of the lifting racks is substantially one-half above the r outer surface of the supporting racks, and one-half below that surface.

All the serrations and all the notches on each of the lifting racks are similar except at the inner ends of the lifting members. There the lifting racks have elongated terminal portions. -15, the upper faces of which form inclined portions 4.6 slanted down and inward from the ends, as clearly shown in the drawings. These inclined portions 46 are longer than the sides of any of the notches, and terminate in abutting members 47, which have inner faces e8 inclined at substantially right angles to the slopes 46 Thereafter the remainder of the supporting surfaces of the lifting rack are divided into the serrations and notches 21 and 22 above referred to. These are formed by very short and steep forwardly inclinel stops L9 and i'iomparatively long and less steep rearward. inclines 50. l The extensions 45 of the lifting members are adapted to extend beneath the run-out 3. illustrated in Fig. 1.

The operation of this cooling bed is follows:

When a piece of hat metal stock, as for example, round bar B, is delivered from the rolls of the'mill upon the run-out, it is carried on the driven rollers 3 until it has entirely passed through the rolls and both ends are within the length of the cooling bedl Thereupon the electric motor which drives shaft 35 is set in motion and shaft 35 is driven one complete'turn. This lifts the beams 25 and. consequentlythe entire series of llftlIlQ racks 20 and carries them through an elliptical path. asillustrated by the dotout rollers 3 is picked up-upon the inclined surfaces 46, at a point near their top as:

illustrated in dotted. lines at'the topof Fig. 3. Vhile the lifting racks are moving upward and forward the bar B rolls over by its own weight, moving forward down theinc'lines 46 until it strikes the abutting faces 48in the first notch 22 of the lifting members, thus comingto rest in the position in the carryingnotchshown iii-dotted lines at the top of Fig. 3, indicated by the reference numeral B In the position illustrated as B the bar is carried'on upward in an elliptical path 60, then downward and backward until it comes in contact with and isdeposited: upon the slope l3 of the fixed supporting-bars 10, at the mint indicated in Fig. 3- by the bar B he supporting members then pass on down ward, leaving the bar in the position indicated by B whereupon it rolls forward by gravity down the slope 13 until it is stopped by impact with the stop 14 of the first fixed notch 12*, thus coming to the position B as indicated clearly in Fig. 3.

At the next revolution ofthe shaft 35 the bar'B is picked up from its position illustrated, by the rearwardly inclined slope 50, near the top of the said slope, at the point indicated by B and as the movable rackgoes on upward and forward. the hot bar rolls'backwardly. down the slope 50 to the position indicated as B". in the bottomv of the movable notch. It will be observed that this rolling movement isin reverse direction to the first rolling movement down the two inclines46 and 13 The bar B is carried in the bottom of thenotch' 22*, which is the first of the similar movable notches, upward, then downward and slightly backward until it reaches the position indicated at B,

at which point it is deposited upon the slope 13 at approximately the position indicated whereupon it rolls forward down the slope 13", coming to 'rest i n the fixed notch 12 between the walls 13 and l l ,'lll the position marked B Thereafter it is picked up, roan wardly rolled, put down. and forward rolled, as above described, at each revolution of the shaft 35 until it is finally deposited uponthe fixed slope 13*, down which it rolls and then is kicked out upon the horizontal portion 1O by the heels of racks 2'0. After a number of bars have collected on the portion 1% they are raked; ofl" laterally onto the portion 10, whence the stock is moved longitudinally to, a shear mechanism, as is customary incooli'ng bed. constructions, and as will be readily understood without description here.

.The effect of this apparatus'iand the operation' just above described is that immediately after the hot stock is delivered f'rom the rollsitis picked up on a surfacewhich isi inclined at an angle sufiicient to causethe hot bar torroll or slide down: the inclined surface until itis stopped row of aligned abutmentsat thebottom of this, first inclinedportion; These abutments are. aligned in the same plane from end to end. of the cooling bed, as are also-thesurfaces of the inclined portions L6. The bar-turns over and over .on the, inclines 4E6, and then comes to re'stwith a considerable impact against the aligned stops ,o-r .abutments 48, which are, substantially at right angles to they incline .456; .;.;The,- straightening effect of rolling a hot bar'upon a plane surfaceiis well known, asis the straightening effect s5 of dropping a hot bar into a: straight trough, the sidesof which join. an angle of, approximately 909. The rolling jvand, impact ten-d to positively straighten. the, hot bari'if it is crooked and the supporting of it in such a notch tends tov keep it straigh'tinfall directi x It is also well. known that the straighteneffect of 'a coolingbedf is practically neg;

ligible after the, first few seconds following the receipt of a hot. bar, since at the ordinary rolling temperature the' plasticity of the bar permitting straightening by gravity or by rolling action is quickly lost by the cooling and consequent stiffening of thegbar.

By the present.construction:the rollino;

action backward and then forward'at each transfer fro-in notch to notch tendsto keep I the bariii-the straight condition which, is

producedby the rolling actionincident to its delivery to the first row of notchesand of the bar. which is, therefore, more unifornr ly cooled than "whereit is supported" on only f one side in its travel across the cooling bed; This tends to prevent cainbering of the hot bar by reason 'of unsymmetrical cooling;

The forwardly inclined elliptical travel of the lifting racks has an important function, espec ally when other. than roundbars are being handled on" the cooling bed. As illus- ,trated in Fig. 3',fat th'e pick-up of a hot 1m from any of the firied notches 12 theliftmg rack is traveling? forward as well, as

ing or slidi'ng'movement on the rearward lv inclined slope. 50 of: the lifting; notch. 1.30 v

This hasbeen f'ound in practice to bepsufii- 1535 upward, so thattheinertia'of the'hot staj. tionary ba'r helps to give 1t a rearward roll I 105, also tendstomoreuniformlycool it bothjby i a ing members cient to cause square bars to roll over down the incline 50,and to cause irregular sections that cannot turn over to slide down even when the slope of the incline 50 is less than the angle of repose.

Square bars after coming to rest are normally held in themoving notches in such position that they are already tilted forward, resting on their forward under side. Therefore, when deposited at or near the top of the incline 13, on edge, their center of gravity is ahead ofthe edge on which they are laid down, so that they topple forward and turn over on the way down the incline. The deposit is made at a point of the elliptical travel that is nearly vertical.

The cooling bed isordinarily duplicated on each side of the central run-out and a hot bar is delivered first on one side of the runout and then on the other. But each side of the cooling bed operates independently and therefore it is sufficient to describe the members of one side only.

The many uses and advantages of this invention will be apparent to those familiar withithe art.

I claim:

1. A cooling bed comprising a run-out, aseries of fixed supporting-members beside the run-out, a'set of movable, lifting and carrying members positioned between the supporting members, said lifting and carry- 7 being formed with terminal inclined portions at their inner ends adjacent to said run-out and a series of aligned stops at the bottomof said inclined portions, and means to move the lifting and carrying members in a curved path, said moving members being adapted to pick up hot stock from the run-out on the upper ends of the inclined portions, whereby to cause the hot stock to roll down the inclined portions against the aligned stops 'at the bottom thereof. r

2. A cooling bed comprising fixed sup porting members and intermediate lifting members, a run-out adjacent to the inner ends of the fixed members, and inclined terminals on the inner ends of thelifting mean bers adapted to pick up a hot'bar from the run-out upon the upper portion of said in clined terminals and to deliver it to the fixed supportlng members after it has moved by gravity down the inclined portions.

3. A cooling bed comprising a series of fixed supporting members and a series of intermediate lifting and forward carrying members, each of said members having notched supporting surfaces, the notches in each set of members being aligned from end Q to end of the cooling bed, the lifting memhers having elongated inclined inner terminal members, and means to drive the liftmembers whereby to pick up a. hot bar from the run-out at the top of said inclined members, and after the bar has moved down the inclined side of said notch to deliver it tothe top of the first notch on the fixed supporting members.

4L. A cooling bed comprising a series of fixed supporting racks having-their upper surfaces formed intoa series of forwardly inclined planes with aligned stops at the bottom of said planes, a series of lifting and carrying racks mounted intermediate the supporting racks, said lifting racks having their upper surfaces divided into a series of rearwardly inclined planes and aligned stops at the bottoms of said planes, and mechanism for driving the lifting and carrying racks in a forwardly inclined elliptical path.

5. A cooling bed comprising fixed supporting racks having their upper surfaces divided into a-number of forwardly inclined planes with aligned stops at the bottoms of said planes, movable lifting racks adapted to travel intermediate the fixed racks, said lifting racks having their upper surfaces divided into a number of rearwardly inclined planes having aligned stops at the bottoms of said planes, and means to'move the lifting racks in a forwardly inclined elliptical path. I

6. A cooling bed comprising a-run-out, fixed supporting racks having aligned rows of notches for retaining hot stock delivered to them from the run-out, lifting and carry ing racks positioned intermediate the fixed racks, said lifting racks having inclined extensions adaptedto pick up the hot stock from the run-out, aligned stops at the bottom of said inclined extensions, andrearwardly' inclined portions adapted to cooperate with the notches of the fixed racks, whereby to pick up hot stock from the fixed racks upon the rearwardly inclined portions, and means to drive the lifting racks in a forwardly inclined elliptical path. I

7. A cooling bed comprisinga run-out, a series of horizontal supporting bars ar-- ranged perpendicular to the run-out, and situated adjacent thereto, a series of horizontal lifting and carrying bars positioned intermediate the fixed supporting bars, the lifting and carrying bars having inclined terminals extending beneath the run-out, and a series of aligned stops at the bottoms of said inclined terminals, and means to drive the lifting and carrying members to pick up hot stock from the run-out upon the tops of said inclined portions and to deliver it to the fixed supports. r Y

8. A cooling bed comprising a set of fixed supporting members having their upper surfaces divided into alinged inclines and stops, a set of intermediate -movable lifting and carrying racks having their upper surfaces divided into aligned inclines and stops, means to drive the movable members in an elliptical path, the inclines of the movable racks being positioned relative to the inclines of the fixed racks so that on the upward movement, the tops of the moving inclines pass through a position of substantial alignment with the bottoms of the inclines on the fixed racks.

9. A cooling bed comprising a set of fixed supporting members having their upper surfaces divided into aligned inclines and stops, a set of intermediate movable lifting and carrying racks having their upper surfaces divided into aligned inclines and stops, means to drive the movable members in an elliptical path, the inclines of the movable racks being positioned relative to the inclines of the fixed racks so that on the downward movement the bottoms of the moving inclines pass through a position of substantial alignment with the tops of the inclines on the fixed racks.

10. A cooling bed comprising a set of fixed supporting members having their upper sur faces divided into aligned inclines andstops, a set of intermediate movable liftingand carrying racks having their upper surfaces divided into aligned inclines and stops, means to drive the movable members in an elliptical path, the inclines of the movable racks being positioned relative to the inclines of the fixediracks so that on the upward movement the tops of the moving inclines pass through a position of substantial alignment with the bottoms of the inclines on the fixed racks, and so that on the downward movement the bottoms of the moving inclines pass through a position of substantial alignment with the tops of the inclines on the fixed racks.

In testimony whereof, I have hereuntoset my hand.

ADOLPH L. FOELL.

Witnesses:

ALICE A. TRILL, Jo. BAILY BROWN. 

